From the land of the 30-hour workweek, a proposal to stop people from buying things

Let them pay retail

(Did the fellow on the left choose to identify as a Lady, even back then?)

Not content with reducing the peasant’s income by reducing the workweek to just six hours a day, French legislators now want to end “Black Friday” sales, all in the name of Mother Gaia.

PARIS — Dozens of French activists blocked an Amazon warehouse south of Paris in a Black Friday-inspired protest, amid increased opposition to the post-Thanksgiving sales phenomenon that has seen a group of French lawmakers push to ban it altogether.

Protesters from climate group Amis de la terre (Friends of the Earth) spread hay and old refrigerators and microwaves on the driveway leading to the warehouse in Bretigny-sur-Orge on Thursday. They held signs in front of the gates reading “Amazon: For the climate, for jobs, stop expansion, stop over-production!”

The activists were later dislodged by police.

More demonstrations are expected as Black Friday looms into view. French climate groups are planning “Block Friday” demonstrations Friday.

Their objections are garnering some support within France’s National Assembly. Some French lawmakers want to ban Black Friday, which has morphed into a global phenomenon even though it stems from a specific U.S. holiday: Thanksgiving Thursday.

A French legislative committee passed an amendment Monday that proposes prohibiting Black Friday since it causes “resource waste” and “overconsumption.”

The amendment, which was put forward by France’s former environment minister, Delphine Batho, will be debated next month. France’s e-commerce union has condemned it.

On Europe 1 radio Thursday, France’s ecological transition minister, Elisabeth Borne, criticized Black Friday for creating “traffic jams, pollution, and gas emissions.”

I would rather live with the French than subject myself to the concocted phenomenon of Black Friday — well, almost — but it’s alarming when politicians start defining “overconsumption”. There is a next stop, and it’s as predictable as it will be ugly.